Cortana on new Lumia 1020 keeps reminding me "Time To Leave" for events I have declined...

[DilettanteMom]

I have a new Lumia 1020, running Cyan, with Cortana (which is weird because I thought Cortana was only on WP 8.1). I bought it last week, new, from the Microsoft website. I've had Windows Phones since they were called Pocket PC's, but Cortana is new for me.

A few days after setting everything, Cortana tells me it's "Time to Leave" and displays a map for an event I'd been invited to on Facebook, but never RSVPed. I have the Lumia Calendar set to include only those Facebook events I have replied "Will Attend" or "Maybe" to. So I thought perhaps the default is that if I haven't replied to an invitation, that equals "Maybe," and Cortana assumes I might want to go? So I went to Facebook on my PC and RSVP "Not Attending" to a half dozen upcoming event invitations, so that I won't get "Time to Leave" alerts. But I am still getting them.

I don't really want to disconnect the link between Facebook and Cortana, or between Facebook and my calendar, but how do I get the "Time to Leave" alerts to be more accurate?

And does this have anything to do with Cortana running on a Cyan OS? Is it a Beta version of Cortana? I was planning to upgrade to 8.1 Denim, but I am a little nervous about stability and compatibility, since the 1020 was designed for Cyan. The phone was locked to ATT, and I am on Tmobile, but ATT customer service sent unlock codes with no hassle, but I am wondering if there is a network problem with Cortana (I am usually connected to WiFi).

I combed through the forums, and searched a variety of keyword combos on Google and Bing, and can't find the answer. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[gpobernardo]

Re: Cortana on new Lumia 1020 keeps reminding me "Time To Leave" for events I have declined...

I have a new Lumia 1020, running Cyan, with Cortana (which is weird because I thought Cortana was only on WP 8.1). I bought it last week, new, from the Microsoft website. I've had Windows Phones since they were called Pocket PC's, but Cortana is new for me.

A few days after setting everything, Cortana tells me it's "Time to Leave" and displays a map for an event I'd been invited to on Facebook, but never RSVPed. I have the Lumia Calendar set to include only those Facebook events I have replied "Will Attend" or "Maybe" to. So I thought perhaps the default is that if I haven't replied to an invitation, that equals "Maybe," and Cortana assumes I might want to go? So I went to Facebook on my PC and RSVP "Not Attending" to a half dozen upcoming event invitations, so that I won't get "Time to Leave" alerts. But I am still getting them.

I don't really want to disconnect the link between Facebook and Cortana, or between Facebook and my calendar, but how do I get the "Time to Leave" alerts to be more accurate?

And does this have anything to do with Cortana running on a Cyan OS? Is it a Beta version of Cortana? I was planning to upgrade to 8.1 Denim, but I am a little nervous about stability and compatibility, since the 1020 was designed for Cyan. The phone was locked to ATT, and I am on Tmobile, but ATT customer service sent unlock codes with no hassle, but I am wondering if there is a network problem with Cortana (I am usually connected to WiFi).

I combed through the forums, and searched a variety of keyword combos on Google and Bing, and can't find the answer. Any help would be appreciated.

Seeing "BETA" at the upper right hand side corner of the screen when you launch Cortana would answer one of your questions.:angel: Given this, it is feedback like this that, upon reaching Microsoft, would make Cortana better.

P.S. You may want to update to Denim to "make your phone perform better".

Not sure what you meant by "since the 1020 was designed for Cyan", because the 1020 was not released with the Cyan update. Besides that, official updates are designed specific for each model whether it be a firmware or an OS update. So the version of Denim that the L1020 will be receiving should be fully compatible with the L1020.

But to answer your question, most of the technology behind Cortana is at the back-end... way back to the desks of Cortana's programmers. This way, Cortana can be updated without having to update our phone (check out a recent article stating that Cortana finally can tell the temperature in Celsius). This means certain features may suddenly appear, some may disappear, some may be improved, some may not be available to others... my "Time to leave" feature does not work all the time (it actually stopped completely for a few weeks now), for example.

So to finally attempt to answer your question, the problem may be in how Cortana fetches calendar information from your account, sends it over to the servers for analysis and is sent back to your phone in the form of a time-evolving, proximity-based, scheduled reminder. Programmers may have assumed that most people do not respond to their Facebook event invitations even if they want to attend the said event, hence making Cortana remind "us" of events we have not responded to yet... and that there is a lag between the moment one chooses to "Not attend" an event and the moment that choice reaches the servers of Cortana.

Try waiting a bit longer (more than 48 hours) and see if any changes are reflected in her behaviour in response to your "Not attending" RSVP.

P.S. You may want to update to "Denim" to "make your phone perform better."